Premonitionist

Prologue 2

Returning Home

Early the next morning, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and the rest of Twilight Sparkle’s friends arrived early at the station platform and were anxious to be there when Twilight returned from Canterlot. As they waited there wasn’t much commotion, except among the Cutie Mark Crusaders who accompanied them. While everypony was busy minding themselves the three fillies were jumping about, talking about how they’d get their cutie marks.

Rarity was exhausted listening to them after she spent all last night fillysitting them. When their high pitched voices were finally getting to be too much the older unicorn decided to confront one of her friends about it. “Applejack, do be a dear and promise me these three fillies won’t be sleeping another night at the boutique,” she pleaded. “While I was trying to work last night it was simply a disaster trying to keep an eye on each and every one of them.”

“Sure thing Rarity, no need to ask,” the orange earth pony nodded. “We already discussed the arrangements. The Cutie Mark Crusaders would spend one night at your place, then one night at mine, and then one more night at Rainbow Dash’s.”

The rainbow colored pegasus was listening in and swooped down as soon as she heard her name being spoken. “Oh yeah! During the sleep over I’m going to make their school break the most awesome break ever!” she cheered.

Rarity couldn’t express how grateful she was to hear those words. “Anything to keep those little fillies away while I’m finishing this large order of dresses,” she said. "I'm of course happy for my little sister but my work must really take priority now."

The Cutie Mark Crusaders overheard everything and were excited they still had two more sleep over nights with each other to play and get their cutie marks. The ivory white unicorn, Sweetie Belle, cracked her voice with excitement. “We’re going to stay over at Applejack’s tonight! What shall we try getting our cutie marks in? Racing cows or hatching chickens?”

Apple Bloom considered it. “I dunno,” she muttered. “All the morning chores I do with the cows and the chickens hasn't already gotten me my cutie mark.”

The pegasus, Scootaloo, jumped into view with brash excitement. “I bet we’re going to get our cutie marks at Rainbow Dash’s place! No pony is more awesome than her!”

Applejack suddenly interrupted. “Don’t get ahead of yourselves girls,” she smiled. “I’ve got us a fun filled evening tonight that might make you reconsider Rainbow Dash’s place.”

Rainbow Dash was alarmed. “And what’s that supposed to mean?” she protested. “You saying a sleep over at your place would be more exciting than mine?”

Applejack knew that she should have known better than to argue but her competitive instincts began to do the talking for her. “Maybe I am better at throwing a sleep over, and maybe I’m not!” she responded. “It’s not a competition Rainbow Dash! It’s about my little sister and her friends!”

Rainbow Dash knew that Applejack was trying to sound rational but the two of them knew that their rivalry was changing this into something else. A wicked grin crossed Rainbow Dash’s face and Applejack smiled as well. The game was on and they were determined to see who could throw the better sleep over, just as soon as the Cutie Mark Crusaders were ready.

But while they were debating, Fluttershy stood alone near the ticket office where she opened a letter she had been meaning to read all morning. The envelope was in her hooves and the yellow pegasus was tearing open the seal when Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared beside her.

“Hey Fluttershy! Watcha got there?” the cheerful earth pony wondered.

“Oh, Pinkie...” Fluttershy stammered. “I was just going to read this letter.”

“Ooh, a letter!” Pinkie exclaimed. “What’s it say?”

“I, uh, don’t know,” Fluttershy hated to admit. “I was going to read it this morning before you came to my cottage earlier than planned and invited me here to the train station.”

Pinkie Pie didn’t seem to pick up the subtle hint Fluttershy was giving her as the pink earth pony looked over her shoulder and studied the envelope. “From a ‘Sir Magnos Hoofwell’,” she read. “Who is he?” she exclaimed. Suddenly, she leaned closer and gave her friend a subtle wink. “Is he a certain special somepony?”

“Um... no,” Fluttershy frowned. “He’s just a nice old hermit who lives near the Everfree Forest. He doesn’t talk much to anypony, but we are very good pen pals.”

When Rarity overheard them the unicorn couldn’t help feel like Pinkie was snooping a little too deep for once. “Pinkie, don’t you know it’s impolite to butt into another pony’s personal life when they clearly don’t want to share it?” she stated.

“Oh, no, it’s fine,” Fluttershy smiled. “Mr. Magnos is a very nice pony. He lives alone in the wilderness and has no friends. He helps the woodland creatures like I do and he's brave enough to go into the Everfree Forest, even when I'm not.”

Pinkie Pie rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “I thought there was something suspicious!” she exclaimed. “No wonder I didn’t recognize his name. I know just about everypony in Ponyville, but maybe if he lived far away outside of town it would be no surprise if I’ve never heard of him before, right?”

Rarity nodded. “Fluttershy, you must introduce us to this fine stallion one of these days,” she said.

Fluttershy seemed to have mixed feelings. “I’m... not sure,” she muttered. “He likes his privacy... but maybe he won’t mind.”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash overheard and they also thought it sounded like a good idea, but it wasn’t long before they turned their attention to the railroad track and realized the train wasn’t even in view yet. “Where is Twilight’s train?” Applejack wondered. “It seems to be runnin’ a tad late.”

“Ah, Twilight will be here soon enough,” Rainbow Dash smiled. “You know Twilight. She’s never late for anything.”

The first great return of the Lords of Darkness was a terrible struggle for the Premonitionists who were unprepared for the enemies who had grown stronger in their exile. Since their banishment, the Lords of Darkness became more powerful than ever and found ways of overcoming the mighty warriors in a second great war that would change this age-old conflict forever.

After many great battles, when the struggle for Dussk was finally at its worst, it became necessary for the Premonitionists to inquire of their enemies and find unconventional means of defeating them. In the struggle, the Premonitionists discovered the leader of the Lords of Darkness, the oldest and most mysterious one of them all. He became known as Lord Titanus, which became a name that many would come to fear throughout the land.

Despite the apparent hierarchy that existed within their ranks, the Lords of Darkness were hardly ones for organized strategy. Regardless, their power was unmatched and they killed fifty Premonitionists for every one of them that was destroyed. It later became the idea of the young Master Osiris to drive the Lords of Darkness to desperation rather than death.

When the mysterious Lord Titanus finally joined the ranks and took up arms with his fellow demons, the Premonitionists finally had their chance to destroy the fearsome king of their enemies forever. Unfortunately for the Premonitionists, the power of Lord Titanus was drastically underestimated and three hundred warriors marched to their deaths in the struggle that would come to be known as The Battle of Shadow’s Peak.

But, in their darkest hour, a mysterious stranger appeared who offered an alternative solution. Through brilliant trickery, the stranger approached Lord Titanus and lured him into a trap that vanquished his evil forever. After his demise, the conflict turned in favor of the Premonitionists who fought back their fierce enemies in the greatest struggle history ever witnessed. But after the Lords of Darkness were banished back into the nether realm the Premonitionists did not rest for a moment.

For many years afterward they searched for the explanation behind Lord Titanus’s disappearance but nothing could be found; not even the stranger who first tricked the mighty king. As it became more and more likely to the Premonitionists that their greatest enemy was truly dead they declared a day of celebration throughout the land and everypony was happy. For many eons afterwards the land of Dussk saw a new age and flourished in prosperity.

Twilight Sparkle was enjoying the train ride home to Ponyville; sitting back and reading the book she hadn’t been able to put down since earlier that morning. But after she had been reading for nearly an hour she finally stopped and began flipping back and forth to random pages. Beside her, Spike was sitting comfortably and enjoying the view before ruffling of the pages began to bother him. After it looked like Twilight was getting frustrated the baby dragon turned around and asked her about it as politely as he could.

“Twilight, what are you looking for?” he asked.

“Just... something,” the princess responded. She paused for a moment. “Spike, something has been bothering me all of a sudden. The Legends of the Premonitionists has detailed stories about many Lords of Darkness, but I can’t find very much written about Lord Titanus.”

Spike couldn’t pretend he knew what she was talking about, but got straight to the point. “Is it really that big a deal?” he wondered.

Twilight looked at him and needed a moment to think about it. “I suppose it is,” she decided. “Lord Titanus, according to the book, was the king of the Lords of Darkness. The story describes him as very evil and very powerful, but there are not a lot of details surrounding this character who seems very important. Just as soon as Lord Titanus is introduced the writer suddenly erases him from the book and I can’t find any further mention of him anywhere. If I was the brilliant writer behind this book..."

Twilight paused to consider the possibility. "... well, I would give myself a pat on the shoulder for being so brilliant, but I wouldn’t just throw away a good character like that, don’t you agree?”

Spike was beginning to feel a different type of concern. “I really think it’s about time you return that book Twilight,” he said nervously. “I think it’s one thing to bring a restricted book home with you, but I’m beginning to feel like you’re obsessing over it maybe a little too much.”

“Obsessing?” Twilight laughed. “Spike, I’m not obsessing. I know in my heart that this book is fictional and nothing about it is real. I’m just excited that I have something new to read about and I’m really enthusiastic.”

“Okay, if you say so,” Spike shrugged.

Suddenly, the conductor at the front of the train made an announcement. “Next stop, Ponyville!”

“That’s our stop!” Spike said with excitement. He got up from his seat and beckoned Twilight to do the same. “You coming?”

“In a minute, just let me finish this chapter.”

The train came to a screeching halt beside the Ponyville train station and all of Twilight’s friends waited there anxiously to see their friend come down from the passenger cars. Steam hiss from the engine, blanketing the platform in a thick fog for a moment. When the steam began to clear Twilight’s friends looked and saw the alicorn princess descending from the train.

“Twilight!” they all called.

“Hey girls,” she responded.

Before she saw it coming, Twilight was tackled and nearly knocked over when they all came running to give her a big welcome home hug. After her initial shock, Twilight smiled and hugged them back. “Aw girls. I was only gone for three days. You couldn’t have missed me that much.”

“No way Twilight!” Pinkie declared. “A day without you is like a Sparkle without the Twilight!”

Her little wordplay confused Twilight, just as much as it confused everypony else, but they ignored Pinkie and got back to the matter at hoof. To them, it felt good to be reunited with Twilight, their friend, and for her to be back in Ponyville where she belonged.

It wasn’t long after Twilight exited the train that Spike came out as well. In his arms he had a huge pile of luggage that nopony noticed, until he tripped on the very last step and all the bags suddenly came tumbling down on top of him. When they heard the loud crash everypony turned and looked with concern.

“Spike!” Twilight worried.

“I’m alright!” the baby dragon declared. His claw was the first thing to appear as he climbed out. After his head poked out he breathed a sigh of relief. “Geez, there’s always one more bag than you think you can handle.”

Everypony began crowding around him and helped the baby dragon unbury himself. After everypony had picked a bag to carry Twilight used her magic to take the rest and Spike was freed. Twilight then took a quick inventory of her belongings and was relieved that nothing seemed lost.

As she was doing that, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle checked to make sure Spike was okay. “Are you hurt?” the yellow earth pony asked.

“Anything broken?” Sweetie belle wondered.

“No, I’m fine, really,” Spike insisted. “Thanks for asking anyway.”

While Twilight was distracted with her luggage she didn’t notice Fluttershy picking up a stray book that happened to fall from one of the cases. The shy pegasus wanted to hand it back, before she realized Twilight seemed preoccupied.

“Um... Twilight?” Fluttershy whispered.

But, after Twilight finished checking her luggage she turned to her other friends and said, “Come on everypony! Let’s head over to my place. I’ll tell you everything about my trip over lunch.”

Everypony nodded and agreed that sounded like a good idea, except for Fluttershy who was still trying to get their attention. “Uh... Twilight, I think you dropped something,” she insisted. It wasn’t long before the shy pegasus became curious and inspected the book for herself.

But, upon reading words on the cover Fluttershy gasped in surprise and forgot her own shyness. She suddenly came around and stood in Twilight’s path with the most anxious look in her eyes. Twilight and her friends stopped; alarmed to find her standing in their way.

Fluttershy had trouble containing her surprise as she spoke. “Twilight,” she began, “did you know Magnos Hoofwell made a book?”

Twilight’s friends were just as confused as the alicorn herself was. “Magnos Hoofwell?” Twilight wondered.

Fluttershy suddenly realized that she should maybe have explained herself a little better before getting in their way like she did. “Magnos Hoofwell and I are good friends,” she mentioned. “I’ve known him for a while but I didn't know that he wrote a book. I was just trying to give this back to you, when I happened to see his name written on the cover.”

Suddenly, Twilight noticed the book she was carrying. “Fluttershy!” she gasped. “Where did you get that?”

Fluttershy held the book at hoof’s length for everypony to see and they all gazed upon it. ‘The Legends of the Premonitionists’. Just underneath the title they read Magnos Hoofwell’s name and nopony knew what to say, except for one.

“Wow... how super exciting!” Pinkie Pie cheered. “Your very special somepony wrote a book Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy’s timid nature began to take hold again upon hearing that. “Um... he’s not my special somepony,” she blushed. “He’s just a friendly old hermit who keeps to himself on the far side of the Everfree Forest.”

“Fluttershy!” Twilight cried. The alicorn suddenly jumped forward and snatched the book out of the pegasus’s hooves, much to everypony's surprise. Twilight held it close and tried to hide the title from view, before she turned around and realized how ridiculous she must have looked. Everypony was staring at her, shocked and surprised, before Applejack stepped forwards.

“What’s gotten into you sugar cube?” the orange earth pony frowned.

Twilight tried to contain herself. She couldn’t laugh this off, and she definitely couldn’t lie to her friends if she had any sort of respect for them. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and decided there was no point in hiding it. With a heavy heart, she looked at her friends one at a time and tried finding the words to apologize to them.

“Fluttershy... Applejack... everypony, I’m sorry for how that must have looked,” she frowned. “It's just that this book... It’s possible I’m maybe not supposed to be reading it. While I was in Canterlot I kinda ‘borrowed’ it from the restricted section.”

Pinkie Pie suddenly jumped into view. “The restricted section!” she exclaimed. “Last time you and I broke into the Canterlot archives I didn’t recall any restricted section!”

Twilight glared at her. “Thank’s for making that public knowledge Pinkie Pie,” she said sarcastically. She quickly got back on subject. “It’s harmless, really. This book is a work of fiction. For all intents and purposes, I can’t tell why it’s locked away in the restricted section but I couldn’t help myself. Though I snuck it out and brought it with me all the way from Canterlot castle, I’m nervous what Princess Celestia would think of me if she found that I had taken it.”

Everypony paused and considered what they had just heard from their friend. Even Twilight reflected on her own words and realized Celestia could be angry of what she had done if she ever found how many rules she already broke. All her friends exchanged glances and wondered what they would do about this. After Twilight felt like she had made a real disappointment of herself, Applejack suddenly stepped forwards and put a hoof on her shoulder.

“Hey, don’t get yourself all worked up over nothin’,” she said, with a gentle and compassionate smile. “If you want us to also keep it a secret for you Twiligh’, then we won’t tell. Ain’t that right?” she asked everypony else.

Looking across at them, Twilight saw everypony nodding their heads in agreement and the young princess couldn’t remember the last time she felt so indebted to somepony else. Seeing all their smiling faces, it made her truly happy to have such great friends.

After a moment, Fluttershy remembered that this was all because of her. She tried to hide behind a lock of hair as she stepped forwards. “I’m... I’m sorry Twilight,” she whimpered. “I didn’t think...”

Twilight suddenly interrupted. “Oh, don’t worry about it,” she said encouragingly. “It’s not your fault that you found the book Fluttershy. It just happened.”

After a pause, an interesting question crossed the young alicorn’s mind. “By the way, you were mentioning that you knew the writer of this book,” she said.

“Oh, yes!” Fluttershy smiled. “He’s a very nice person. We don’t see each other much but he writes me letters every so often.”

Twilight found herself curious to know more about this writer, Magnos Hoofwell, as she stood herself up and tucked the book away. “What do you say we talk more about it on the way to the library?” she wondered.

Everypony nodded in agreement and then they made their way off the station platform and back into town. After three days being away it felt good to be home in Ponyville.